Today's Blind Items – They Stole Her Money

They used to be the best of friends. They would do everything together. Two acting couples that would meet up once or twice a week for dinner or movies or just drinks. One is an A+ list couple consisting of an A+ list mostly movie actor and his actress wife. The other couple consists of straight B listers. It didn't matter because they got along and you could not get the couples to not hang out, they were that close. At one point, the two couples decided to work on a movie together. The A listers took charge of the project even though it was the idea of the B lister. She had never worked on anything like this or her new capacity so was willing to let them take the lead. Everything was great during filming and the movie became a big hit. Huge. The B listers assumed they were going to get rich and get to work on a bunch of other personal projects. One tiny problem. The A listers had structured everything so they cleaned up and made most of the money to be had. Something like 75%. Our B listers had to settle for about 5% and they were told it should have been way more, but they signed things the A lister told them to sign. Since that time, the couples never speak. Not a word. If they run into each other at a red carpet, it is a grimaced expression and they move on. Apparently this is something the A listers do frequently with other people who have good ideas.

Nia and Ian were not B-Listers at the time. Far from it. She was doing a one-woman play in a very small theatre, and Ian was a supporting character on the Drew Carey show. Rita discovered Nia and made the film happen (with Tom, of course). Nia has a career BECAUSE of Rita and Tom. The blind, as written, says b-list couple… That indicates to me some name recognition, and regular work.

I know an Indy film guy who made a deal with one of his friends. Friend didn't get screwed but no lawyers were involved. Some people tend to trust their friends, ya know?If these 2 couples were Bf's and the A+ couple offered to fund the project, it's entirely possible they talked the other couple into just signing on the dotted line as a 'technicality' or some such language.B list couple is so excited they do what they are told.

Lesson learned the very hard way – at least get YOUR agent and/or manager to look it over if not YOUR lawyer too and if you all have the same people, take it to an independent party. Spend a few hundred dollars to make a few million more? Yeah worth it. Though the interesting thing is if you said, gee friends, how come you are getting 95% of the revenue here and they say fine. We got other projects we can do.

Hollywood agreements I suspect are purposely murky. A true friend would say have your people look it over, someone in a hurry has something to hide even a supposed best friend.

I don't like this blind, I suspect there is two sides to this story, did the a listers finance it? Did one of their names carry it? How did they make it happen? There was probably a reason it was structured as it was, probably due to the financial risk involved for the a listers.

Now, after it becomes unexpectadly big and the b lister wants more and turns nasty,,bad mouthing, won't talk to them, but lapping up the opportunity when it was presented.,yep, I reckon there is two sides to this,,,and this side is being leaked from the b lister.

I think I'm with Froggy too on this one. Probably took someone like Hanks to get this thing done. It was the B listers that were on his coat tails. I'm sure they did just fine on the project but never would have happened without hanks. I'm sure this does happen all the time and the small timers feel slighted but the projects never happen without the name guy- esp on first project. That is how hollywood works- usually someone else's good idea makes those with power and $$ more rich. The trick is having enough good ideas so that you are oneday one of those power people. There are enough rewards to go around if you can consistently come up with good project ideas – onetime hitters litter the valley- often bitching about how they got screwed on their one great idea. That being said sometimes the power guys are pricks and do use their power to screw over people (or bang young starlets looking for a break.)

It probably is tom, Rita and nia though. She got eight percent of the gross profits, hanks and Rita got 33 percent of the net remains each, so nearly 67 percent between them.

However big, big difference between gross profit and net remains, which also pays off all loans before it becomes net as well as nias cut..

As this film grossed over 300 musd, nia did not do too badly, she became a very very rich woman on the back of it and it certainly would not have happened without the hanks. As said, two sides, and I think this is either the bitter b lister side or total bs.

I'm now thinking Ben and Jennifer and Jennifer Beal and Justin Timberlake. Those 4 were all buddy buddy until runner runner bombed. But it could have been something else. Ben Jennifer and Emily and John krazinski.

Not my Big Fat Greek Wedding scenario. Nia (then a nobody not a B lister) had it as a one-woman stage show first. Rita saw it (both are Greek-American) and convinced Tom to produce the movie. This was a business arrangement not a friendship that led to a good idea being generated.

I saw this and immediately thought of Tom Hanks/Rita Wilson and Nia Vardalos of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."

I recently looked up the financials on this one. Nia got something like 8% of the net gross or whatever … Tom + Rita + one other producer got 1/3 each of what was left after all costs. They all ended up suing the distributor for unpaid royalties, then mysteriously dropped the suit. They didn't settle, at least not on the record, they just dropped it.

The distributor replied that they (the four of them collectively) had been paid something like $44 million.

Since Nia's 8% was before expenses were taken out … it's difficult to know how it compares with the other three's 33% each. But I did hear at the time that she got the short end of the stick.

OK, from an article about the lawsuit:

"Vardalos' contract stipulates an 8% participation in adjusted gross profits, while the other three plaintiffs are owed one-third each of the net balance remaining after backend disbursements, according to the lawsuit, filed Monday."

I don't know movie financial lingo well enough to parse that.

The movie was a huge blockbuster, it cost $5 million to make and grossed (depending on whom you believe) between $250 and $350 million worldwide.

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